dummvsdürrWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dumm” and “dürr” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,472
“dumm” frequency rank
#25,514
“dürr” frequency rank
26986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dumm dürr
Definition schwach an Verstand, ohne Intelligenz, ohne Können, unwissend trocken

Where the eye mixes dumm and dürr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
dumm
4 ch
dürr

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dumm ([dʊm]) and dürr ([dʏʁ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dumm is recorded at frequency rank #1,472, classified as anadj, pronounced [dʊm]. dürr is at rank #25,514, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dʏʁ].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 26986, this pair ranks #1,809,119 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dumm vs dürr

Shared letters: d. Private to "dumm": mu. Private to "dürr": .

"dumm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dürr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dummddumm · dmum · dum · udmm

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dumm" and "dürr" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʊm] versus [dʏʁ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dumm" or "dürr"?
"dumm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,472 in our German list, against #25,514 for "dürr". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list